"After eight years with the company, I've decided to take a break from my work at Marvel Comics," he wrote. "I feel it an urgent necessity to focus on my family and my creator-owned endeavours.

"Marvel enabled me to provide for my family as it grew, as my two children appeared into the world, and for that I am indebted and eternally grateful.

"They offered me their biggest flagship titles, they paid me well, and allowed me to sleep knowing my family could afford a doctor visit should one be needed, and this was not the case for most of my adult life."